THE POWER OF A MENTOR - An Essential Step In Career Growth

Careers aren’t just made by possessing a specialized knowledge for the type of job you are looking for. It is made by a holistic development of your character, skill and personality and these things don’t develop just from taking an online course and getting certified, you have to practice what learned and apply it in the real life experience and that takes persistence because there is no guarantee that you won’t fail initially or even repeatedly. There is a common misconception among people that “knowledge is power”. Knowledge is only “potential power” as what you know has to be organized and intelligently directed for it to matter. Education isn’t just the possession of knowledge; it is the ability to acquire knowledge about a particular thing when and wherever required. That is where a mentor comes in. 

Mentors and advisers are the essential building blocks to one’s career. Investing in yourself is paramount especially in the present situation where people are losing jobs left and right. Even Warren Buffet, the greatest investor of all time has said “By far the best investment you can make is in yourself” and the best way to do so is find yourself an invaluable mentor who you trust and have faith in. Every great man has had a mentor and adviser before he became great. Warren Buffet had Benjamin Graham, Bill Gates had Warren buffet, Steve Jobs had Mike Markkula, Mark Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs. Even the internet entity to whom everyone comes for advice Google, was developed and nurtured with the mentorship of Eric Schmidt. Larry page still to this day gives him credit of powerful advice which changed his life. Mentoring is a crucial aspect of the business world. Looking up to more experienced people who have already gone through what you are going through in your professional life and are the experts in the said industry is necessary for success. You are free to take career advice from your peers but chances they are stuck in the same problem as you are or most probably they will give you what they think is good advice hoping for the best for you but they just do not possess the experience that they can distinguish between good and bad advice. The most common and basic advice for success ever given in this world is “surround yourself with people smarter then you”. That is the basic definition of a mentor, a person is smarter then you, more experienced then you and most importantly trustworthy. Every person’s first mentor is his/her parent or teacher but the mentors can’t stay the same throughout life. They should also evolve with you. For example, if you are looking to start a business you can’t ask your father for advice if he himself is in a job living from paycheck to paycheck. You are to going to ask someone who had already started and maintaining a successful preferably in the same industry you are going to work in. Finding a great mentor is hard but not impossible, all it takes is some research. A mentor/mentee relationship is one of the most underrated but one of the most important relationships in this world which cannot be overlooked especially in a time of crisis like now.